CC Sabathia glad with addition of Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees back to ‘being that hated team’

CC Sabathia was still a free agent at the time the Bombers pulled off a blockbuster deal to acquire reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton.

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But after re-signing with the Yankees for 2018, Sabathia and Stanton are teammates, and the 37-year-old lefty is enjoying his team's standing as the Evil Empire once again.

"Last year, we were the team that everybody loved, that feel-good story," Sabathia — who signed a one-year, $10 million deal — told MLB Network on Thursday. "But getting Giancarlo just brings us back to being that hated team. That's what we like. We want to go out there, put the best team on the field and crush everybody every game."

Sabathia won the World Series in his first year in pinstripes (2009) on a star-studded team that included Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, so he's no stranger to this type of situation.

Sabathia took meetings with the Angels and Blue Jays before returning to the Bronx, which was always his intent as he wanted to wrap up "unfinished business" i.e. getting another ring before his career ends.

Plus, it's much easier being on the Yankees than facing their potent lineup with Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, a trio that belted 144 homers combined in 2017.

"And that's why I wouldn't have went to the Blue Jays," Sabathia joked on his Players' Tribune podcast last week. "If I'm going to be in the AL East, I'm going to be on the best team. I'm not coming to Yankee Stadium to get my ass kicked."

STAYING ON TIME

If Rob Manfred does implement a 20-second pitch clock as part of unilateral pace-of-play rule changes the commissioner could make, according to reports, it could significantly impact Sonny Gray. Gray's pace last season of 27.6 seconds per pitch, according to the FanGraphs leaderboard, was the slowest in baseball among 58 qualifiers.

The average pitcher was at 23.5 seconds for 2017, per ESPN. For the Yankees, Luis Severino was fastest at 21.6.